It's Been a Long Time A-Comin'

One of the most dispiriting things about the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was that he brought in an anti-government mindset that demonized many aspects of government that were, in fact, doing good things for a lot of people. He and his crowd not only talked about "government being the problem," but they also put appointees into government jobs who were actually hostile to the purpose of the positions they were appointed to fill.

One of the highest visibility departments that got this treatment, right from the start, was the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which is legally charged with upholding anti-discrimination laws such as the Civil Rights Acts and the Voting Rights Act. These laws have been controversial from the start because they empower the formerly powerless, and the right-leaning Reagan and his cohorts certainly didn't want that to happen, at least not too fast. Even Bill Clinton was unable to truly reverse the tide swept in by Reaganism.

So it was a joy to open my New York Times this morning to the headline, "White House to Shift Efforts on Civil Rights." The gist of the story:

The Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly.

Can I just say: Yeah!!

When Reagan was elected, I was 22. Now I'm 50. I've waited that long for the Civil Rights Division to be restored to its rightful role of upholding, rather than watering down, some of the most important laws of this country.

But never fear, the Republicans aren't done yet -- they're blocking the nomination of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, who runs the division. One of the effects of that is to slow down the replacement of anti-civil rights Bush appointees with lawyers who will actually enforce the laws.